The present invention is concerned with a windshield wiper arm for a motor vehicle.
A windshield wiper arm essentially consists of a rubber wiping strip which is connected to a driving arm through a structure which serves as a support, and the main function of which is to ensure the best possible wiping action by giving the wiping strip a spatial configuration which is always adapted to the curvature of the glass to be wiped and to the conditions in which it is to be used.
To this end, the known support structures comprise a rigid, metallic, main arm which is fixed to the free end of the driving arm, together with one or more arms which are articulated together and/or to the main arm, and some of which carry the wiping strip, while the latter may include reinforcing inserts which give it predetermined mechanical properties of transverse stiffness and/or longitudinal flexibility.
The assembly is thus very complex, and necessitates assembly operations, usually by crimping, which are lengthy and costly, with the quality of these operations having a direct influence on the performance and good operation of the windshield wiper.
By way of example, a windshield wiper arm operating over a length of 60 centimeters generally comprises a dozen components.
In addition, this design of windshield wiper arm has the effect of making each model that is produced different from the others, in terms of either the nature and dimensions of their components or of their number and method of assembly. As a result, large stocks have to be carried by the manufacturers, and it is impossible to rationalise mass production.
In order to reduce manufacturing costs, which are also due to the operations required to protect the product against corrosion, and operations of painting metallic components, it has been proposed to make these components out of plastics material, but the appearance of such an assembly is thought unfavourable to its commercial exploitation because customers see it as being a product of inferior quality.